


Disarm and Dispatch

by Yatorihell



Series: In The Darkness [71]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, ノラガミ | Noragami (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 20:14:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29564556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yatorihell/pseuds/Yatorihell
Summary: On a dark and stormy night, Yato learns the truth about his mission and the horcruxes.
Series: In The Darkness [71]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/547369
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	Disarm and Dispatch

The N.E.W.T exams were finally, _finally_ over.

Yato let out a breath of relief. It was quickly followed by a pang of sadness. He wouldn’t be back, but Hiyori and Yukine would; he told himself this at the beginning of the year, but now they were in the last few weeks of term. At least he knew they would be safe from Nora now that she was leaving too. They would never have to see her again.

He could focus on finding the horcruxes; he may even be able to come back to Hogwarts to visit and update Professor Tenjin on his findings. It was a small hope he would cling to in his solitude at Yukine’s house. He would find and destroy the horcruxes, defeat the Sorcerer, and find the strength to go home to Grimmauld Place.

Yato left the Great Hall after his final exam, not wanting to think about the day he would get his results back. He saw Nora pass by him, head hung low and curtained by her black hair as she disappeared back into the bowels of the castle, back to Slytherin’s dorms. Whilst he hadn’t seen anything unusual in the Room of Requirement, he could only assume that it was hidden away.

Hiyori and Yukine were waiting for him in the courtyard, sunning themselves in their summer school uniforms on the grass and chatting listlessly. They sprung to life as soon as Yato was standing over them.

“How did it go?” Hiyori asked.

Yato pulled a face. All his confidence had been zapped with every passing exam. “As good as it could’ve been.”

“I’m sure you did great,” Hiyori said optimistically.

Yato pulled on his tie, thankful for the cool breeze rather than the stuffy hall where he’d been for the past two hours. The three of them sat down on the grass, enjoying the sunshine that cast tall shadows from the castle turrets and towers.

“What are you going to do next year while we’re at school?” Hiyori asked. She tucked her legs under her, hand on her lap whilst the other picked at stray daisies.

“Get a job?” Yukine suggested.

Yato huffed in response. He hadn’t the faintest idea what to do. He’d need to get ‘Outstanding’ on all of his N.E.W.T.s to have a shot at being an Auror, but even then they may do a background check and see his relations to Father, and therefore the Sorcerer.

“You could work in Honeydukes and give us free sweets,” Yukine continued. “Or the Three Broomsticks.”

A wry smile pulled at Hiyori’s lips at the suggestion, though Yato seemed deflated to think about finally growing up.

“Maybe he could persuade Professor Tenjin to hire him to help Kuraha look after the magical creatures they use in class. Then you wouldn’t have to leave Hogwarts.”

Yato spared Hiyori a glance but looked away quickly when he saw the teasing smile on her face. In his last days at Hogwarts, he didn’t know what to do about his feelings for Hiyori. After the trip to the Room of Requirement, he couldn’t tell if she did like him, or if she was teasing him the way he always teased her.

One thing for sure, it wasn’t a friendship he wanted to ruin with one-sided feelings. For now, he would hold his tongue.

~

Yato fell asleep quickly that night, the late nights and early mornings finally catching up to him as he nuzzled into his pillow and sighed in his sleep.

He knew that he should have been looking for the horcruxes, but when the locket and the ring plagued every dream, he knew it would be pointless until he could go back to Grimmauld Place and look at them. Hopefully, that would once and for all put a stop to the reoccurrence.

It was barely midnight when Yato felt something hard scratch against his hand. He batted it away with a mumble, but a small squeak came from somewhere by his head and Yato bolted upright. He looked down, and as his eyes adjusted, he could see a robust mouse-shaped piece of parchment looking up at him. It looked at him for a second before its pointed nose nudged against Yato’s fingers again.

Yato plucked the mouse between his fingers and smoothed out the folds until the mouse disintegrated into a piece of parchment. Yato felt for his wand on the bedside table, knocking a few miscellaneous items to the ground.

“ _Lumos_ ,” Yato whispered, ducking beneath the sheets so he wouldn’t wake anyone up. His eyes burned in the sudden brightness, having to squint to make out the words in front of him.

_Astronomy Tower. Prof. Tenjin._

Yato hesitated. _Is this another trick from Nora?_

He dimmed his wand and dropped the sheet to his lap. He looked to the door, seeing the gaping cracks between the slats of wood at the bottom where the mouse must’ve squeezed through. He could hear no one outside nor see a shadow, but something told him that it was Professor Tenjin summoning him.

Yato’s mind raced as he pulled on his tracksuit and stuffed his feet into his shoes. He tucked the note in his pocket and kept his wand in hand as he quietly left the sanctuary of Slytherin’s dorms.

Yato slipped through the hallways like a shadow. He could hear a distant rumble of a storm rolling in over the highlands and across the Great Lake, promising summer rain to clear the air. Yato made his way through the Transfiguration Corridor that surrounded the courtyard. He glanced up to the starry sky that framed the Astronomy Tower and its small turrets, obscured by the first storm clouds that were forming overhead.

The staircase winded up, and Yato remembered that this was the tallest tower in Hogwarts, offering a perfect view of the sky for those who could make the climb. It felt like hours by the time Yato reached the top, stepping into the darkened room.

The floor softly clanged with his footsteps. Below the metal grate flooring he could see shadows and shapes of old telescopes that had been left to collect dust. He stepped up to the raised wood dais that made for a stage that students would sit on and learn about the stars. The centre of the room, half beneath the floor, was an astronomical sphere that reflected the moonlight that shone in through the large circular opening in the tower.

Yato started as he realised the shape of a man was hidden in the shadows, overlooking the lake like a phantom waiting for a loved one to return from sea.

“Professor?” Yato said.

A wave of relief washed through him when the figure turned, revealing it was the headmaster. It wasn’t a trick.

“Thank you for coming so quickly,” Professor Tenjin’s voice was gravelly. It took Yato by surprise.

“Professor, has something happened? Has-.”

A multitude of questions passed Yato’s mind. Why did he bring him here? Had something happened to the Order? Had a horcrux been found? They were all silenced by the headmaster.

“Yato,” Professor Tenjin said. There was a pause of silence as Yato stared at him. The moonlight bathed his profile in iridescent light that highlighted his greying hair and tired eyes.

“My time here is nearly over, therefore it is time to tell you the truth.”

Professor Tenjin paused and pulled out a chain from under his black robes. In the glint of the moonlight, Yato could tell it was the locket.

Professor Tenjin crossed the room, still holding it in the palm of his hand for Yato to see. “The locket in your vision – the one here – is not a horcrux. The real horcrux is in Grimmauld Place, along with the ring.”

 _Ring?_ Yato thought. His heart hammered. The signet ring in Grimmauld Place in the sapphire goblet. Right next to the locket, the other horcrux. Under his nose all this time.

“The ring is…?” Yato started, but Professor Tenjin shook his head.

“An empty vessel. Destroyed by the Sorcerer’s lover, Izanami. They attended Hogwarts together and he bewitched her with a love potion. When she broke free all those years later, she destroyed the horcrux and herself.”

The empty feeling that swallowed Yato down in his visions made sense now; he felt the Sorcerer’s pain and hollowness of having part of his soul destroyed by someone he loved. Yato looked from the locket to Professor Tenjin, anger brewing in his chest. He’d told him that the locket was nothing, a lie that the Sorcerer used to send him off the trail. He clenched his fists.

All this time he’d known where the horcrux was, and they lied.

“Why did you lie? How is the real horcrux in Grimmauld Place? Why didn’t we destroy it the moment it was found?!” Yato’s voice grew sharper as he threw the questions, but Professor Tenjin didn’t scold him. He dropped the locket so it hung around his neck.

“Sakura learned where the locket was hidden during her time in Azkaban; Deatheaters on the brink of madness will tell any secret, including the existence of the horcruxes,” Professor Tenjin explained. 

He crossed over to the opening, hands tucked behind his back, and voice a tone about a whisper.

“Once she escaped and found you, she began looking for them. The first being the locket containing part of the Sorcerer’s soul.”

Yato’s head reeled at the mention of Sakura. She knew? She had been looking for them for three _years_? She had never mentioned them, hidden them away like heirlooms in dusty goblets when they were the most important objects in the world.

“We knew we would have to keep the horcruxes safe until they could be destroyed. Grimmauld Place is safer than any vault in our world, and so the Order of the Phoenix was reborn: to protect you and the horcruxes,” Professor Tenjin continued.

Yato’s mouth dried, not that he had anything to say to these revelations.

“Once Sakura found the locket, a fake was made and given to me. Then, when the locket was discovered missing, we spread the rumour that I possessed the horcrux, to protect Sakura and the Order until she could destroy it.”

Professor Tenjin turned, and Yato could see a storm brewing in his dark eyes. “For this reason, the Sorcerer intends to kill me.”

Yato felt his chest tighten. It was all too much. All the secrets that had been kept from him: the ulterior motive of the Order of the Phoenix that was only revealed once Sakura died, the reason Nora was trying to kill the headmaster, the location of a horcrux he knew about all this time.

“Why didn’t she tell me?” Yato croaked. “When she brought me to the Order? Why didn’t she say anything?”

Professor Tenjin’s eyes softened. He turned and took half a step away from the window towards Yato.

“She didn’t want to put you in harm’s way until you were ready. But her death came too soon for her to destroy the locket, and it was left to me to tell you the truth-.”

“What truth?” Yato spat. “The only truth I have now is that I can’t trust you, or Madame Kofuku, or anyone else in the Order!”

“Sakura knew the risk she was taking, as did I,” Professor Tenjin warned. “She wouldn’t have you expose yourself to the Sorcerer’s mind games, but you are our only hope of finding the horcruxes before the war comes. We have tried to prepare you for the trials to come.”

Yato took a step back. “So, you decided the moment Sakura died to use me in your game of chess? Because she wouldn’t let you fuck with my head?”

The guilt was evident in Professor Tenjin’s silence. Yato scoffed.

“Well, I guess you were right about me being able to find horcruxes – not that you wanted to tell me where they were in the first place.”

Professor Tenjin sighed wearily. “We’d hoped that you would be able to trace them all, but it seems your…grief… for Sakura clouded your mind, making you only focus on the ones that were closest to her.”

Yato felt his blood boil. It wasn’t his fault that the visions reoccurred. Had they thought to tell him the truth in the first place, maybe they would know what and where the other horcruxes were. But in the next moment, Yato found out there was more that was kept from him.

“Why are you telling me this now?” Yato folded his arms over his chest and glared at the Professor.

Professor Tenjin glanced at Yato before looking down over the ledge of the Astronomy Tower. “Because tonight is the night I will die.”

Yato tensed, but he relaxed almost immediately. There was no danger here in Hogwarts. Nora’s assassination attempts proved useless. Professor Tenjin could handle Nora even if she came at him with the Sword of Gryffindor.

“If you’re talking about all the curses and poisons that have missed their mark, I can tell you it was Nora. She’s the one who sent the necklace, the wine -,” Yato said dryly as he recalled each failed attempt.

“I know.”

Yato stopped short. “What?”

“I know it was her. Your Father, the Sorcerer, they believe I have the locket, and they want it back before it is destroyed. I believe it was Nora’s mission to kill me and retrieve what was taken.”

Yato blinked. _He knew._

A crash came from behind the wooden door, followed by muffled shouting. Yato whirled around, eyes locked on the door. He opened his mouth to speak, but he didn’t have the chance.

“They’re here.”

Professor Tenjin drew his wand and in one fell swoop the floor disappeared beneath Yato. He yelped at the short fall, the flagstones jarring his body with a painful thump. He looked up and saw that the wooden floorboards had fixed themselves overhead.

Yato scrambled to his feet, ignoring the pain in his side, and began hobbling his way over to the ladder that was concealed by a trapdoor. He cursed under his breath. Tenjin _knew_. He knew that it was her that had nearly killed him and Hiyori, but he did nothing about it.

Yato pulled himself up and pushed against the door, but it was jammed shut. Through the holes in the metal grating he could see Professor Tenjin stood by the window, eyes adverted away from him.

Yato opened his mouth to call out to him, to curse him for trapping him for no reason, when the door slammed open.

“ _Expelliarmus!_ ”

Yato sucked in a breath as the spell hit Professor Tenjin. His wand arced through the air and clattered to the side of the room. Yato’s breath hitched as he saw the curtain of short black hair that hid their face, but he knew all too well who was in front of him.

“Good evening, Nora,” Professor Tenjin said.

Yato’s mouth fell open, but he shut it quickly to muffle his breathing, listening intently. There was not a hint of panic on the headmaster's face despite becoming unarmed and being aimed at by the one who had tried to kill him.

Nora stepped forward. Her head moved from side to side, checking to make sure they were alone.

“I take it you are not alone tonight,” Professor Tenjin asked.

Nora was quiet for a moment as if still judging if they were truly alone before she spoke. “No, I’m not.”

There was silence, but far below them in the spiral staircase came the sounds of scuffling and shouting. Deatheaters had infiltrated Hogwarts. Yato silently drew his wand.

“I take it you’re here tonight to kill me once and for all?”

“That’s right.”

Professor Tenjin shook his head imperceptibly. “You are not a killer, Nora.”

“How do you know?” Nora said a bit too quickly. Her grip tightened on her wand. “You don’t know what I’m capable of. What I’ve done-,”

“Oh, I know what you have done; you poisoned your brother, you cursed a classmate. I know you have been trying to kill me.”

Silence hung in the air as Professor Tenjin made his revelation. Yato couldn’t see Nora’s face, but he imagined her expression showed a mixture of shock and confusion.

Far below the grunts grew louder, echoing off the tower walls. Professor Tenjin cocked his head.

“I must say, while your attempts to kill me were feeble, I must know how you brought Deatheaters into this school.”

There was a beat of silence before Nora found her voice.

“Vanishing cabinet,” Nora said. Yato note there was a tremor in her voice as she flexed her hand by her side. “In the Room of Requirement.”

Professor Tenjin hummed, closed his eyes, and titled his head back. “Clever… a pair, I assume?”

“The other is in Borgin and Burkes.” Nora nudged her head to the side. “They make a passage.”

“And so the Deatheaters were able to use it to infiltrate Hogwarts.”

The battle outside seemed to be moving closer with every thump, pop, and bang. Long drags of silence passed between them, as they listened to both sides fight.

Yato imagined the teachers who awoke to find Deatheaters in the school, fighting for their lives as they advanced on the headmaster’s life. His heart hammered as he realised Professor Tenjin knew that they would attack tonight, and rather than escaping, he had brought the Order to fight. Yato wondered if they would make it in time, or if he was really about to watch the headmaster die.

“Perhaps you should finish the job,” Professor Tenjin said.

Yato felt his heart lurch to his throat, startled that he was egging Nora on.

“You must have realised tonight that there are more members of the Order of the Phoenix here tonight than you expected, but you can see we are alone up here.”

Nora’s knuckles whitened on her wand.

“You don’t need help to do this. I am unarmed.” Professor Tenjin spread his arms slightly.

 _Stop talking,_ Yato begged silently. It was as if he wanted Nora to do it.

Professor Tenjin’s eyes softened. He spoke quietly. “I see. You don’t want to do this.”

Professor Tenjin stepped towards Nora, but the refocusing of her wand stopped him after a step. The fight was only a floor beneath them now, but the sounds of cries and curses were dwindling, now impossible to tell how many there were or who had won.

“You do not have to do this, Nora.”

Nora’s face was sickly pale in the dying moonlight, dappled by shifting clouds that rumbled with the first sounds of thunder. “I have to. He’ll kill me.”

“I can help you.”

“You can’t. Nobody can. He said – Father said to do it, or he’ll kill me. I don’t have a choice.” Nora’s voice cracked.

Yato could hear the tear in her throat as she fought against her better judgment, to do what Father told her.

“We can hide you,” Professor Tenjin persisted. He took another step forward and this time Nora didn’t stop him. “The Order will protect you. No harm has been done and none will come if you join us. You are not a killer.”

Nora stared at Professor Tenjin, and for an agonising moment, Yato thought she’d drop her wand and surrender.

The door burst open.

Yato flinched and lost his footing on the ladder, but his footsteps were obscured by five sets of footsteps thundering overhead. He pressed himself to the wall, heart thumping.

“Why is he still alive?” A high-pitched voice hissed. Yato shrunk away from the metal grating as someone passed directly overhead. He knew that voice all too well.

“Oshi, my dear successor,” Professor Tenjin said calmly.

“Where is it?” Oshi snapped at Nora, ignoring the headmasters greeting.

Yato crept forward and looked up through the grating. He could see Nora and Oshi, and four other figures robed in black.

Nora didn’t answer, but the clang of footsteps on metal turned to wood. There was a snap and Yato could see one of the Deatheaters had ripped the locket from Professor Tenjin’s neck. The bait had been taken.

“You’ve had enough time. Kill him.” A voice came from the one who held the locket, deeply familiar and nauseating.

He turned his back on Professor Tenjin and stood beside Nora. Now, Yato could see his face clear as day – Kugaha, donned in Deatheaters garb, his hair matted in thick dreadlocks.

“ _Do it now!_ ” Oshi screeched.

Nora’s wand faltered over Professor Tenjin’s heart.

Yato wanted to call out, to burst through the floor and fight, but the headmaster was sure to lock him away where he couldn’t be seen or be hurt. Below he could hear the first stirrings of reinforcements making their way up the tower, but he knew they would not make it in time.

Professor Tenjin’s eyes flickered to the floor, almost making eye contact with him.

Time slowed.

Kugaha let out a low growl and pushed Nora out of the way. He drew his wand and aimed.

“ _Avada Kedavra!_ ”

A bolt of green light shot from the end of his wand and blasted Professor Tenjin square in the chest. Yato’s scream never passed his lips. The air had been ripped out of his lungs as he watched Professor Tenjin, suspended for a moment beneath the roaring storm, fall and disappear from sight.

~

The Dark Mark hung over the Astronomy Tower for the rest of the night, a reminder that Deatheaters had come to Hogwarts and killed the headmaster. The message was clear:

Hogwarts was no longer safe.

Professor Tenjin’s death and funeral were widely covered by the newspapers. The _Daily Prophet’s_ newspapers hailed him a hero – a veteran who fought against all evil. Everyone seemed to have forgotten that the _Daily Prophet_ constantly dragged his name through the mud until his death.

All lessons were cancelled, the final O.W.L.s exams postponed. Professor Tsuyu talked about closing the school early, although more than half of the students had already been dragged home by anxious parents. The grief of losing the headmaster and the uncertainty of Hogwarts’ future became a cloud over them darker than any mark.

In the end, Hogwarts shut its doors for the year after Professor Tenjin was laid to rest.

~

The Hogwarts Express rolled out of Hogsmeade, the carriages eerily silent.

Yato, Yukine and Hiyori took a carriage for themselves. They could tell that things had changed now.

Though Madame Kofuku had survived – along with the other teachers who had heard the battle and come to fight – the Order was in tatters. Most of those who had fought in the First Wizarding War were now dead, leaving a gaping hole in the Sorcerer’s resistance.

Whilst Yato knew that Sakura never wanted him to put himself in harm’s way and that he was used by the Order to try and find the horcruxes, he knew he was the last line of defence now. If the horcruxes weren’t found – and quickly – the Sorcerer would have the world on its knees, wizard and muggle alike.

The silence dragged on endlessly and was only broken when they passed the first of the loughs outside of Hogwarts.

“What will we do, Yato?” Hiyori said softly.

Yato looked at her after a second. Her gaze was focused out of the window, waiting for an answer. Yato’s eyes slid to Yukine who was sat next to her, finding him looking at him intently.

“I’ve got to destroy the rest of the horcruxes,” Yato said. “It’s what he wanted me to do – what I have to do – to stop the Sorcerer.”

There was a long silence.

“We’re coming too,” Hiyori said. She lifted her head from the window and looked at Yato. Her face was drawn with days of grief and anxiety. He wondered if she had even slept properly since that night.

Yato shook his head. “No, you’re not.”

“We aren’t any safer at Hogwarts now, even if they have every Auror crawling over the place,” Yukine said. He folded his arm over his chest. “We’re going with you.”

“No –,” Yato said. He hadn’t counted on this. He would leave and find the horcruxes. He would destroy them one by one. Then he would kill the Sorcerer once he was mortal. Hiyori and Yukine were not part of this equation.

“We aren’t going to leave you,” Hiyori repeated.

Yato stared hard at Hiyori, willing her to back down, but if anything, it strengthened her resolve. He looked at Yukine and found the same stubborn look on his face.

“Never,” Yukine said. “We do this together, or not at all.”

**Author's Note:**

> :3  
> That's the end of the Half-Blood Prince arc! I have a few spicy chapters ready to go, and I can't wait for you to see what happens in the Deathly Hallows!


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